St. Gerard House business idea wins competition

The Children & Family Resource Center held a contest to find the best business idea that can positively impact the lives of children living in Henderson County. Above is a screenshot of the video presentation submitted by St. Gerard House, which won the competition with its idea for a community garden.

Published: Monday, March 3, 2014 at 2:15 p.m.

Last Modified: Monday, March 3, 2014 at 2:15 p.m.

From planting the seed to making the sale, teens with autism will soon be able to participate in St. Gerard House's new Feed the Need program.

The Children and Family Resource Center announced the Hendersonville nonprofit as the winner of $10,000 for its business plan in the Promise Competition Saturday at the Speak Out for Kids event held at Blue Ridge Community College.

The finalists shared their video pitch with the audience and answered questions from the judges, who reviewed their proposals. The audience voted for the winner via text messaging.

“It was great. It was really, really a great process,” said St. Gerard House Executive Director Carolina Long. “It was fun to look out and see a bunch of supporters in the crowd and community people. And, really, the great part about the whole thing was the exposure; how many people came up to us and said they'd never heard of our program and that they wanted to come by and volunteer.”

During the final competition, an anonymous donor offered to give the two runners-up $5,000 each. The anonymous contribution went to the Enterprise Program of the Boys & Girls Club and Partners in Reading initiative from Smart Start.

Blue Ridge Community College Small Business Center also offered for all of the seven submissions to receive a year's worth of business plan and incubation services.

The contest finalists' business plans had to successfully address at least four of the five promises for children in Henderson County, which are to provide caring adults, safe places, a healthy start, effective education and opportunities to help others.

St. Gerard House's Feed the Need program addressed all five in its plan. St. Gerard House is a resource center and school for children with autism and their families.

“We have our Grotto School, which is intensive early interven­tion for children ages 2˝ to 8, and then we have a Connect Social Skills Program, which is for kids aged 5 to 19,” Long said. “The program that we won the money for is a new program that we have called Feed the Need Garden, and it will take high-schoolers and young adults, and that's sort of the top end of the spectrum that we haven't hit yet.”

Long said the school has been working to find a way to better serve teens and young adults with autism and said this new program will help the school do just that.

The school obtained two lots for a community garden in downtown Hendersonville between Bearcat Boulevard and Buncombe Street, which will be crucial for the Feed the Need Program. Long explained that high school students and young adults will work in the garden and learn vocational and technical skills through gardening, as well as communication and teamwork.

Long said those soft skills are “really sort of unspoken skills that you and I take for granted that these guys don't have and need a lot of help to acquire.”

On Saturday March 15, volunteers will work together to build the raised plots needed to begin growing for spring.

The money from the competition will go toward purchasing supplies and tools for the garden.

“We will teach them how to harvest the vegetables and the herbs, and how to take them to a tailgate market or work with a restaurant, a small restaurant or go to a co-op and sell what they've grown … that's all part of the social interaction and social skills that are required to have a product and you really need to learn how to promote it and have conversation about it,” Long said.

Looking forward to the future, Long said she hopes it will be able to expand into catering opportunities that use food grown in the garden.

“I really want it to be a program that gets participants to gain a lot of skills and confidence so that they can go out there and want to work with local business and organic growers,” Long said. “Maybe we can match our guys to different businesses and get them to do internships with them, and get a taste of what it is like to be independently working.”

You can watch the video pitch for the community garden by clicking here

<p>From planting the seed to making the sale, teens with autism will soon be able to participate in St. Gerard House's new Feed the Need program.</p><p>The Children and Family Resource Center announced the Hendersonville nonprofit as the winner of $10,000 for its business plan in the Promise Competition Saturday at the Speak Out for Kids event held at Blue Ridge Community College.</p><p>The finalists shared their video pitch with the audience and answered questions from the judges, who reviewed their proposals. The audience voted for the winner via text messaging.</p><p>“It was great. It was really, really a great process,” said St. Gerard House Executive Director Carolina Long. “It was fun to look out and see a bunch of supporters in the crowd and community people. And, really, the great part about the whole thing was the exposure; how many people came up to us and said they'd never heard of our program and that they wanted to come by and volunteer.”</p><p>During the final competition, an anonymous donor offered to give the two runners-up $5,000 each. The anonymous contribution went to the Enterprise Program of the Boys & Girls Club and Partners in Reading initiative from Smart Start.</p><p>Blue Ridge Community College Small Business Center also offered for all of the seven submissions to receive a year's worth of business plan and incubation services.</p><p>The contest finalists' business plans had to successfully address at least four of the five promises for children in Henderson County, which are to provide caring adults, safe places, a healthy start, effective education and opportunities to help others.</p><p>St. Gerard House's Feed the Need program addressed all five in its plan. St. Gerard House is a resource center and school for children with autism and their families.</p><p>“We have our Grotto School, which is intensive early interven­tion for children ages 2˝ to 8, and then we have a Connect Social Skills Program, which is for kids aged 5 to 19,” Long said. “The program that we won the money for is a new program that we have called Feed the Need Garden, and it will take high-schoolers and young adults, and that's sort of the top end of the spectrum that we haven't hit yet.” </p><p>Long said the school has been working to find a way to better serve teens and young adults with autism and said this new program will help the school do just that. </p><p>The school obtained two lots for a community garden in downtown Hendersonville between Bearcat Boulevard and Buncombe Street, which will be crucial for the Feed the Need Program. Long explained that high school students and young adults will work in the garden and learn vocational and technical skills through gardening, as well as communication and teamwork. </p><p>Long said those soft skills are “really sort of unspoken skills that you and I take for granted that these guys don't have and need a lot of help to acquire.” </p><p>On Saturday March 15, volunteers will work together to build the raised plots needed to begin growing for spring. </p><p>The money from the competition will go toward purchasing supplies and tools for the garden. </p><p>“We will teach them how to harvest the vegetables and the herbs, and how to take them to a tailgate market or work with a restaurant, a small restaurant or go to a co-op and sell what they've grown … that's all part of the social interaction and social skills that are required to have a product and you really need to learn how to promote it and have conversation about it,” Long said. </p><p>Looking forward to the future, Long said she hopes it will be able to expand into catering opportunities that use food grown in the garden. </p><p>“I really want it to be a program that gets participants to gain a lot of skills and confidence so that they can go out there and want to work with local business and organic growers,” Long said. “Maybe we can match our guys to different businesses and get them to do internships with them, and get a taste of what it is like to be independently working.” </p><p><i>You can watch the video pitch for the community garden by clicking <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jgh4dZvse9M">here</a></i></p><p>___</p><p>Reach Bindewald at 6947890 or renee.bindewald@blueridgenow.com</p>